Bryce Moore's Blog, page 64

Movie Review: In the Heights

I remember back when I first heard about In the Heights when it was on Broadway. It won 4 Tony’s back in 2008, and it was nominated for 9 others. I . . . didn’t get it. At all. I remember watching the Tony’s and just wondering why in the world people were making a big deal out of a hip-hop musical. It felt very non-musically to me.

A lot’s happened over the next 13 years, of course. I’ve changed. Music tastes have changed. Hamilton happened. And so the musical that I was totally uninterested in back in 2008 became the movie adaptation that I really wanted to see in 2021. I would have seen it in the theaters, but I’ve got HBO Max, and it’s right there to watch on that service, so it was an easy decision to just watch it at home last night with Denisa and Daniela.

We loved it.

In many ways, it felt like a modern West Side Story. Just without the gang wars and Romeo and Juliet vibes. (So yeah, not like West Side Story at all, I guess.) It’s a celebration of diversity and place and heritage and people in general. The rhythm felt very Hamilton-esque. I’d try to sum up the plot, but it’s really a kaleidoscope of different plot lines all arranged around Washington Heights and its impending gentrification. The neighborhood is changing, and its changing the lives of everyone in it. But it also shows how things are always changing and evolving and moving forward, and it’s a celebration of that as well. There are no real villains in the show. No one’s out to sabotage the place. There’s no one everyone can fight against and overcome. It’s just life.

Do I regret not having seen it in the theater? In some ways, perhaps? It’s definitely a show that would play well to a crowd. But at the same time, I got to watch it with subtitles on, which made it much easier to understand and follow. I went into the movie blind. I’d seen a trailer, and that’s about it when it came to the plot or the music. The lyrics come fast and furious, and they’re hard to catch. I definitely would like to rewatch it again soon, just so I have an easier time keeping up with it all. I think seeing it without the subtitles would have left me more bewildered.

The songs are great. The acting is great. The voices are great. The choreography is great. The cinematography is great. There’s honestly not anything I can nitpick about the movie. I loved it from start to finish, and I heartily recommend it. 10/10. It’s fantastic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

End of School: 2021 Edition

And here we are. I keep having to remind myself this is the end of the second year of COVID-affected school. Last year and this year just sort of blended together into one big mush in my head, as I’m sure it’s turned to mush for most of you. Did we have a summer last year? What month are we in now, anyway? What year is it, exactly?

This morning, I went downstairs and the kids were all still asleep, so I called up to wake Tomas and Daniela up. “Last day of school!”

“That was yesterday, Dad,” Tomas called down to me. Because they’re full remote on Fridays, and they all turned in their computers yesterday, he didn’t have school today, and I didn’t even realize it. Which is about par for the course this year, really.

That said, I realize my kids have had it better than some, and worse than others. We’ve had in-person school for the whole year, even if it was only about half the time each week. It was still miles better than when COVID kicked in during March of last year, and the school decided to keep everyone home and not have any assignments count toward a grade. (I get that kids are supposed to be learning for the love of learning, but how many of you actually believe kids did any work last year once they realized the grades wouldn’t matter?)

What’s on the agenda for the summer? Well, we’re launching things off by going down to stay in Boston this evening and visit with my cousin and her family tomorrow. Tomas is going to be working as a deck assistant at the pool in town until he passes his life guard exam, at which point he’ll start life guarding up a storm. We also have about 50 hours of driving practice still to go with him, so I imagine he’ll be Denisa’s chauffeur whenever possible. Daniela and MC are going to be doing various summer camps and lessons (drama, tennis, swimming), horse riding, and Daniela and Tomas will be back to cello and violin lessons at last.

We have a camping trip planned for the end of July, and we’ll try to get to the beach at least a few times. Denisa is up to her elbows in the garden, and I have . . . work. (The same thing we do every day, Pinky.) I also imagine I’ll have a deadline to revise DON’T GO TO SLEEP once I turn it in the first time and I get feedback from my editor.

On the horizon above everything else looms The Great Kitchen Renovation. Cabinets should arrive at the beginning of August, and that’s when the actual work on the kitchen is slated to begin as well. I’m expecting it to be much less than fun. The kitchen sits in the middle of our house. We’ll likely be without it for well over a month. Nothing says “fun August” like using a hot plate in the bathroom to cook all your meals, right?

But hey, even that will be better than last summer. I think we’re all looking forward to something like normalcy. What are you going to be up to? Maine’s lovely in the summer. Just sayin’ . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

How Old is Your Longest Friendship?

I was talking to my kids the other day, and the topic of friendship came up. Specifically how long we stay friends with people we’ve known for a while. When they found out how few of my friends from school are still active people in my life, they were surprised and disappointed. That makes sense: we’ve lived their whole lives in the same place, and so for them, many of their friends feel almost as longterm as family. I, on the other hand, moved around a lot as a kid, not staying more than a couple of years in any place until junior high.

Looking at my current friendships, I am still in contact with a couple of people from middle school. I still communicate a couple of times a month with some friends from high school. I do have one high school friend who I get together with frequently (virtually, typically, since he’s in Philly and I’m in Maine). And then friendships from then on get a bit more steady. But when I think back on all the friends I’ve had, and I think about how few of them play an active part in my life today, I suppose it could get discouraging. I remember being so close with them back in the day, and now . . . we’re just not.

Of course, I’ve also lived a lot since then, and I’ve seen (personally, at least) that people change and circumstances change, and it’s just not realistic to think I’ll still be such great friends with everyone I’ve ever been great friends. I came across this post from Kottke, which talks about how many friends people can actually maintain. In a nutshell, it argues you can only have 1-2 intimate friends. 5 close friends: people who would drop everything to come help you if you were in trouble. 15 core friends (which include all the ones already mentioned) that form the bulk of your social life. They trace it all the way to 500 acquaintances, 1500 known names, and 5000 known faces. It’s a fascinating article. You should check it out.

It can seem pretty grim when you think of it in those terms. To have a new close friend, a different close friend has to go. But at the same time, that’s often the way it happens, isn’t it? You move, or they move, or jobs change, or whatever. I can’t imagine trying to keep up with 100 close friends. There’s no way I would have the time.

But at the same time, I recognize I’m only speaking from my own experience, so I wondered if I’m out of the norm here. How about you? Are you still friends with many people from high school? Junior high? Elementary school? How far back do your friends stretch? For this, I’m talking about active friendships. People you get more than a Christmas card a year from. People who interact with beyond Facebook likes. Please share.

And at the same time, this train of thought has led me to once again confirm what a vital role family plays in all of this. (Or at least, the role family can play. Sure, my friends have changed over the years, but my family has always been there. I always know generally where they are. I get updates on what they’re doing. To me, family exists in a realm outside that chart of friends I linked to. Not that you’re necessarily always interacting with them, but . . . they form a base of support that you can always come back to. At least, that’s how it feels to me.

What say you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Final Revision Push

I’m up to my eyeballs right now trying to get the latest draft of my next book (DON’T GO TO SLEEP) finished and off to my editor. It’s at times like these that I’m really reminded of just how much more work I end up doing on writing. When I’ve got an already busy schedule filled with things like “being a library director,” “being an active church member,” “being a present father and husband,” and “being a home owner,” tossing in a writing deadline is enough to make everything else feel like the wheels are about to fall off.

So what do I do when it’s crunch time like this?

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s best for me to avoid letting it get to here if at all possible. Writing when I’m under pressure is about as much fun as doing anything when you’re forced to. My escape mechanisms set in, and I start looking for excuses to do anything other than write. That, of course, doesn’t help me get any closer to actually getting the work done, and so I end up working much later in the day than I might have otherwise.

Take yesterday, for example. By the time I really found time to write, I was already home from work. No writing done before work. No writing done at lunch. And so all of it was waiting for me. I ended up writing three hours after an already long day. In a typical day, I write for around 45 minutes. The only good thing about this stage of the revision is that I know the plot and the characters and the setting very well, and I’m to the point where I know what I need to write. I just need to actually write it. So there’s no need for me to stare off into space and wonder what the characters might think or say, and I don’t have to worry about solving the actual plot problems. This is draft 3.5, meaning that I’ve already done three drafts of the book, and I’m doing a partial revision this time.

In this case, my writing group (rightly) pointed out that the climax I thought was so awesome . . . wasn’t. But through talking out what I wanted to get done, what was working, and what wasn’t, I came up with something that should fit the bill. But you can’t just rewrite a couple of chapters of the climax and make it work. You have to go back and tweak stuff that came before to make sure the climax is set up the right way. Find plot lines and details and alter them accordingly. Yesterday I was focused on adding a new scene from scratch and then significantly revising two other scenes. I got to that point and felt like I’d done a ton, but then I forced myself to push forward and add yet another new scene. I want this revision done and off to my editor next week. That’s already later than I wanted it to be.

It’s a good thing I already have a fair bit of experience writing books. If it had felt like this when I was starting out, I don’t know if I ever would have gotten through my first one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

School Votes without the Bulldog

It’s the school budget vote today. So first off, if you haven’t voted yet, get out there and vote. You can find out all the details about the budget and where and when to vote over here. But beyond that, it’s a strange year for the vote. Yes, last year we had the whole COVID thing to deal with, which swallowed up any recollection I have of the vote. (It passed the first time? I think? I honestly can’t remember what happened.) But every year before that, the community had its annual flamewars on the local online paper, The Daily Bulldog.

That was all before the Bulldog stopped allowing comments on its articles. I am still very pleased that they did that, though I also know all it did was sweep the problem under the rug. There’s still plenty of disagreement in the community, ranging from people earnestly trying to do the right thing on both sides down to people who really just want to troll the other side, down to people who espouse some pretty base ideas. They’re all still there, only very much muffled.

So in a way, it’s disconcerting to have this vote happening today and to not have any real idea how much opposition there is to the budget. It’s another increase, so you have to assume there’s a fair bit of chatter and consternation, simply judging by the fact that there always has been, and the trend has been toward that increasing, not decreasing. Budget uncertainties elsewhere will only compound the problem.

Without all that bickering back and forth, it’s hard to know what will happen. How do you convince people who aren’t inclined to vote that there’s a need to vote? Though at the same time, that door swings both ways. I imagine it’s just as hard for the budget hawks to really feel like they’re getting momentum when there’s no tangible way to gauge how it’s going.

So what will the end result be? I honestly have no idea, and I’m worried about it. I suppose we’ll find out tonight just how big the feeling on each side is in a vacuum. I do understand the desire to keep the school budget nice and svelte, and I also understand the arguments that it’s much bigger now than it was before. But at the same time, so is every budget. In my book, as long as the increase is under 2%, then there’s no cause for alarm. (It’s 1.76% this year.) Things get more expensive. Salaries. Technology costs. Energy costs. Equipment costs. Just because they’re non-profit doesn’t mean schools are immune to that. And if the increase is more than 2%, then I think it’s worth listening to hear why it’s as big as it is. In my experience, there’s always been a good reason for that. But the argument that the budget needs to flatline or be cut is one that willfully ignores many extenuating circumstances.

Anyway. We’ll see how it turns out tonight. Go vote!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

You Don’t Trail Blaze as a Parent

Some more thoughts on parenting and life today. Up this time? All the time I’ve been a parent, I’ve viewed myself as a sort of guide who can show my kids the ropes. I’ve lived more than 42 years, after all. It’s easy to think that I’ve encountered pretty much any situation they might come across, and so as a parent my job would be to accompany them along that trip to adulthood, pointing out all the pitfalls I’d found along the way. I’d already been through all that rough ground and blazed a trail for my kids. All they’d need to do is follow in my footsteps.

But now that I’ve been parenting for a while (and have not one but two teenagers), I’ve come to realize more and more that the hard-earned path I created for myself that I was so proud of all these years isn’t really worth a whole lot to my children. It’s not because they want to ignore it or refuse to listen to me, but it’s because the path I made is now over 25 years out of date. The terrain has changed since then. There are different threats. Other pitfalls. My kids are making their way through unknown jungle, and while I can possibly help them by suggesting things that worked for my way back when, those suggestions might or might not be of any real value.

Here I’ve been thinking all this time that I had made this helpful map with tons of annotations and warning marks, and now that my kids are old enough to really use it, I’ve discovered the map’s out of date and of an entirely different mountain. So the more I try to insist that my kids take this switchback or cross the river at that point, the more they’re probably going to struggle. Those switchbacks and river crossings might have worked well for me, but they don’t go to the same place anymore, and they might well end up being deadends.

At the same time, I’ve learned that my kids aren’t in this completely alone. At least the younger ones aren’t. We’re in this as a family. Tomas (the oldest child) ends up encountering a lot of things for the first time that Denisa and I as parents just haven’t come across. Daniela (coming next) can and has benefitted from her parents having already come across some of those new obstacles that Tomas encountered. So in many ways, parents can’t trail blaze, but older siblings can. Not completely, but at least enough to give everyone a general idea of some of the latest things to watch out for along the way.

There are other maps out there to consult. Other parents who might have already faced some of this new terrain with their children. Other children who have reached the latest mountaintop. But it’s important to remember that for all of the explorers out there, there’s an infinite number of paths and destinations, and what may be complete paradise for one person might be boring to another.

Sometimes I wish everything were as simple as I assumed it would be when I didn’t know anything about what I was talking about. Maybe one day I’ll figure out that’s pretty much never the case . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Board Game Review: Wingspan

It’s not too often I actually play a new game in real life these days. I’ve played more than a few on Board Game Arena, but the opportunities to get together with friends and learn a wholly new game have been limited to say the least. Usually it’s been more about playing old familiar games that we haven’t played in a while. Yesterday a friend from high school came by (yay vaccines!) and introduced me to a game he’s been hyping for the last while: Wingspan. I’m pleased to report it lived up to the hype.

At its heart, Wingspan is a card and resource management game, similar in ways to Race for the Galaxy. You work on getting cards and using the resources on those cards to get more cards and resources and (ultimately) points to win the game. It’s very well executed, but what sets it apart from other games is the way the theme really shines through the entire game.

Sometimes board game themes can be pretty tenuous, providing nothing more than a thin veneer to explain why you’re trying to do what you need to do to win. But when a theme is really popping, then it makes everything else makes sense. A common example of this would be Battleship. At its heart, all it is is a guessing game with some light strategy. But when you think about it in terms of trying to send torpedoes around to blow up different military ships, it becomes that much more engaging.

For Wingspan, you’re in the role of a team of bird enthusiasts, and your goal is to get as many different kinds of birds to come to your wildlife preserve. I know, that can seem pretty . . . strange at first. I mean, we’re down to birding as a theme? What’s next? But in this case, everything about the game clicks around that birding conceit. There’s a dice tower that’s a bird house. There are eggs as tokens. There are tons of beautifully illustrated cards depicting a huge variety of birds. The tokens are all high quality. No skimping with flimsy cardboard or paper in this case.

Playing the game, I was reminded just what a contrast playing with actual pieces is compared to playing a game online. There’s a real draw to having actual bits and pieces to fiddle with and examine, beyond the obvious plus of having real friends in a real room to play with. Board games are really designed to be tactile, and when you reduce them to just random number generators and graphics, something’s lost.

In any case, I had a great time with my first play through, and I’d definitely consider buying the game. How complex is it? Well, to get going in the first place, it takes a bit of description, but the actual gameplay (once you know what’s going on) isn’t that bad, it didn’t feel like. Boardgamegeek gives it a 2.42/5 in complexity, which is pretty accurate. So while it may put off casual players at first, I think it’s a game that would eventually feel right at home next to Ticket to Ride or Catan. And in the meantime, casual players can just have fun reading up on different birds as they play.

If you haven’t tried it already, this is definitely a game to add to your wishlist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Smile or Else

It’s easy to look around at other people and assume everyone else is doing great, and then look at yourself and wonder why in the world things are going so bad for you. As I’ve thought about it, in many ways it’s reflected in our current standard of smiling when you get your picture taken. I’ve sat through my fair share of family pictures, and there is often a lot of drama around the picture itself. (Drama that seems to go up exponentially the more people are involved in the picture.) Often, there’s a whole lot of yelling, crying, and grumpiness before and after that picture, but when it’s time to click the shutter, the smiles come out.

Actually, it’s made even more extreme by today’s tendency to take multiple pictures at the same time. Back when actual film was being used, you just took the picture and hoped for the best. Weeks later, you’d find out how you did. These days, you don’t just smile for that one picture, you smile for a bunch, and then you pick out which picture of all of them looks the best. (Typically, which one has the most smiles and open eyes.) In other words, there’s a lot of posturing involved in those pictures, all to make it look like folks are nothing but happy.

But we all know that’s not the case, even if we forget it when we’re looking at the pictures. The same is true in life in general. I’m always amazed when I find out what some of my friends or family members are facing, when all I typically see from them is happiness and fluff. The same is certainly true for me. There are times when I really feel like I’m on top of things, but there are also times when I feel like I’m in the middle of the ocean and I just forgot how to swim.

I have to try and do a better job at cutting other people slack. At understanding that there may be things going on in their lives that I have no idea about, and that (if I knew) I would definitely treat their “shortfalls” differently. We do that when we’re aware of what’s going on, but when we aren’t, why is it so easy to assume everything’s fine, and our irritation is justified? It makes me think of the Bruce Banner explaining how he controls the Hulk: he realized he’s always angry.

Anyway. Not much to add to this, other than a general encouragement for people to go easy on each other. That whole Golden Rule thing definitely applies in this case. Have a nice Thursday, peoples.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

What to Do in Amish Country

Down in Pennsylvania right now, visiting my parents at long last while also working remotely at the same time. (I attended two different Zoom meetings yesterday while sitting in different parking lots in Lancaster County. It all went swimmingly, except for the one time when it seemed for a moment like I’d found a pocket of internetlessness, which I suddenly realized I should have seen coming. But thankfully I found a stronger cell signal soon after that, and all was right with the world.)

The kids are also Zooming school during the day, and then we’re heading out trying to do fun things in the afternoons and evenings. So yesterday’s activity was “what can we do fun in an afternoon in Lancaster County?” This wasn’t my first buggy ride (well, actually it would have been, had we ridden in a buggy), so I had some idea of some good places to check out, but it still required a fair bit of planning. (Figuring out what everyone wanted to do, what times we had what meetings, and how to piece everything together as best as possible.) In the end, this is the agenda I came up with:

Stop by Immergut Pretzels in Intercourse: (The Amish in Lancaster are a fountain of interesting town names. Intercourse. Paradise. Bird-in-Hand. Blue Ball, etc.) I’ve visited several different pretzel places in Lancaster over the years, but this is by far my personal favorite. They’re soft pretzels (which I like much more than the hard variety), and they come in different flavors and toppings. Think of this place like an upscale Auntie Anne’s, and you’re about right. Delicious.Head over to Mr. Sticky’s for some sticky buns. (It’s not just interesting town names, folks.) This doesn’t look like much: it’s basically a small shack next to a “Welcome to Lancaster” tourism center. But they make some wonderful sticky buns and cinnamon rolls. (The ones I got yesterday had peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Sublime.) Yes, I suppose you could just order them online and have the shipped to you anywhere in the country, but there’s something about buying them fresh, you know?Check out the wares at Riehl’s Quilts and Crafts. There are a ton of quilt stores in Amish country. I don’t pretend to be a connoisseur of the art, but I do know that prices vary widely. (Case in point: Denisa was looking for a new corn broom. She found one at Riehl’s that was handmade and only about $15. She bought it. She found the same broom almost everywhere else we went. Sometimes for $20. Sometimes for $26.) Riehl’s has a great selection and very good prices. Quilts and all manner of handmade things. It’s hard to find (I have no idea how I would have found it without a GPS), but I think they cater to tour buses to keep them in business. Get some baked goods at Bird-in-Hand Bakeshop. I assume you’re seeing the theme here. A lot of why I go to Amish country is food-based. Again, this is a very nice bakery with a wide variety of cookies and pies and treats. We picked up a shoofly pie and some molasses cookies. Mmmmm . . . Shoofly pie.Head to a restaurant for some Amish food. I’m most familiar with three: Miller’s, Hershey Farm, and Good ‘n Plenty. Miller’s and Hershey are both buffets, and of the two, I’m more partial to Miller’s. (Better selection, though Hershey is great too.) Good ‘n Plenty serve their food family style at your table, meaning they bring out dishes and you pass the dishes to each other, just like at home. I love their food, but I don’t really dig family style, mainly because (pre-COVID) they sat you with other families at your table. I’d rather just eat with my own, thanks very much. But thanks to COVID precautions, they were seating everyone separately. (Plus, Millers was closed.) So we got to go to Good ‘n Plenty instead. (I had only actually eaten a pretzel up until this point, for the record. Everything else was bagged to eat for later. Like, say, today . . .) I ate far too much food, but that’s kind of the point.Walk off some of those calories by heading to the outlet stores at Tanger. This wasn’t really high on my to do list, but it was for Daniela and others, so we finished here. Shopping isn’t typically my thing, but I get that our home town doesn’t have much in the way of shopping, so when you can actually find stores, you strike while the iron’s hot.

All-in-all, it was a fun afternoon, and a great time to spend with the fam. If you’re in the Lancaster area, or even passing through, I highly recommend it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Keeping Perspective

I don’t have a whole ton of time to blog today, but I wanted to jot down a quick thought that’s been kicking through my head. In a nutshell, it’s a basic observation of how important it is to remember that the things you are familiar with and good at aren’t universal to everyone. For example, I have written many books by now. Writing a book, for me, is in no way an insurmountable task. It’s gotten to the point where it’s just another thing that I do, much the same as library work, or organizing a pantry, or installing a new A/V system for my home theater.

I try to remember that when I’m talking to other people who are working on writing their first book, or who dream about just writing anything at all. For me, rattling off 1,000 words writing about a topic isn’t something that’s terribly difficult to do either. After all these years of blogging, the bigger trick is often coming up with something to write about, rather than just having enough to write about whatever it is. (I mean, come on. I’ve been able to come up with blog posts about the best fruits out there. And then I did a specific post just about bananas. You give me a topic, and I can talk about it for about as long as you want. Probably longer, to be honest.)

So it’s okay if I come up to some sort of problem that just leaves my head whirling. If I were to try to fix a broken engine, I would be so far out of my depth I wouldn’t know where to begin. “It doesn’t start” would be about as far as I got. Figuring out how to garden well? Landscape a yard? Make a cosplay costume? There are a ton of things that are outside my skill set.

Sometimes it can be tempting to put more value in the things you do well than in the things other people do well. As if the things you’ve specialized in are somehow of greater intrinsic worth than the things you chose not to specialize in. And I suppose that might be natural. After all, you thought they were worthwhile enough to specialize in them, right? But just because you think engineering is the bee’s knees doesn’t mean it’s going to be worth a whole lot to you when your television breaks and you have no idea how to fix it.

Where are these thoughts going? Nowhere, really, other than to say it’s important to remember that the things that are easy for you (relatively speaking) can be very difficult for other people. Not because you’re awesome and they aren’t, but because you’ve spent a whole lot of time on them and they haven’t. And I guess that’s all the time I’ve got to think today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.